Our Corporate Social Responsibility program, GHD in the Community (GITC), is designed to have a positive social and environmental impact on the communities in which we operate.
GHD people are actively involved in community and partner with many not-for-profit organisations. This includes the provision of pro-bono services and the support of a range of community-based enterprises for fundraising, volunteering, workplace support and engagement. Our people proudly consider, formally apply and then nurture GITC partnerships, making this program one of deep interest and personal pride amongst our workforce.
Our clients also play an important part in this program by highlighting their challenges or identifying opportunities for our assistance. We are grateful for their involvement which enables us to add value and a make a real difference to disadvantaged communities or causes.
Projects of national or international significance - that help rebuild communities after disasters, assist with vital infrastructure or simply provide much needed support to affect positive change - are a key part of our approach to GITC.
Love your water Drury Tree Planting
A small team from our Auckland office joined other volunteers at Drury for the "Love your Water" campaign with Sustainable Coastlines. The GHD team, led by YP Committee Community rep Anisha Hasan, together planted over 120 trees to stabilise the bank along the Ngakoro Stream, an upper tributary of the Manukau Harbour.
Port Hills Tree Planting
The weather gods put on a stunning day for the Christchurch Community Tree Planting Day at Mount Ada during June. Led by Charlotte French and our YP group, the GHD team made up a large part of the 40-strong team who braved the cold and planted nearly 200 trees at the top of the Port Hills.
This will help to offset some of the damage caused by the February fires and restore the area to its former glory. Thank you to all participants, who got to enjoy the breathtaking Southern Alps views while planting.
Partnering with EWB
As part of our flagship partnership with Engineers Without Borders (EWB), our people are involved in numerous programs to assist communities in Australia, USA, Canada, Asia & Africa. This includes a range of study tours and technical mentoring of volunteers, and a development program in The Gambia, West Africa. In Australia, we support the Yorta Yorta Indigenous community and have begun helping the Olkola Aboriginal Corporation develop a tourism enterprise.
Supporting disaster relief
In the USA, we supported the victims of the Valley Fire in Northern California. In Australia, we partnered with Sydney Water to donate more than 300 bales of hay to drought-stricken farmers. And, as part of our partnership with RedR Australia, our people were deployed to Nepal following the earthquake and Vanuatu to assist with drought relief, and helped the WHO respond to the Ebola outbreak in West Africa.
Assisting Indigenous people
GHD is continuing to make a difference to Indigenous communities. Our 10- year partnership with CareerTrackers in Australia is providing professional internships for Indigenous university students (45 to date). We also participated in NAIDOC week activities and collected hampers for young people in the Koori Court Program. In Western Australia, we support Year 12 Aboriginal students through the Clontarf Foundation.
Fundraising for Multiple Sclerosis in Canada
For the seventh year in a row, a team of GHD people in Canada have completed a 150 km (93 miles) roundtrip bike ride from Grand Bend to London in Ontario in support of the Multiple Sclerosis (MS) Society of Canada. Our team raised more than CAD36,000 to help improve the lives of people living with MS. This is the second largest MS event in the country.